Cigarette Waste Recycling Programme
- FAQ

If you for any reason would like to stop participating on the free programme, please visit your profile and select “COLLECTION PROGRAMMES”. Click the grey X to the right of the programme and you will no longer be a member. Feel free to give us a shout through Customer support, if you have any feedback regarding the Cigarette Waste Recycling Programme.

The maximum size is 70 kg. We do encourage you to send in as large a shipment as you can each time, to maintain the sustainability of the programme. Team up with family, friends and colleagues to make a real impact and to collect greater quantities. You could also approach public places (particularly those with designated smoking areas) and encourage them to participate in the programme.

The aim of this programme is to transform one of the most littered types of waste in the UK into something which can be recycled. We hope that this alone will give you enough motivation to help clean up your community.

Once you have signed up to the Cigarette Waste Recycling Programme you can access the freepost labels from your TerraCycle profile to enable you to send in all the cigarette waste you collect to our warehouse in Preston. Once received, the cigarette waste is stored at the warehouse until we have enough cigarette butts and other waste to process it into reusable materials. The filters, the foil, and the plastic packaging are recycled into plastic pellets, which can be used to manufacture plastic goods such as shipping pallets etc. Leftover rolling paper and tobacco will be composted. This programme not only cleans up litter in your communities, it also ensures that no waste will go to landfill!

You can easily refer people to our website, terracycle.co.uk, where anyone who is curious can read more and sign up. If you are taking part in the programme, from home or through a public place, you can download and print our Accepted Waste Poster, to spread the word.

Anyone over the age of 18 can participate in the programme. You can collect from home, or try to encourage public places in your community to take part. Good locations to approach are places with designated smoking areas, such as pubs, bars and restaurants.

You can recycle cigarette waste of many kinds, including cigarette butts, cigar butts, used and unused cigarette filters, rolling paper, inner foil packaging and outer plastic packaging from the box as well as ash.
Please do not send in cigarette boxes made from paper though, as they can be recycled with your usual recycling at home.

The Cigarette Waste Programme is being supported by Japan Tobacco International (JTI), one of the world’s largest tobacco manufacturers, but we will recycle waste from any manufacturer in this programme. You can learn more about JTI at jti.com/uk.